


Healing

by Dearieforever



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 05:16:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21221189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dearieforever/pseuds/Dearieforever
Summary: Set during my other story "skin deep"  Robert Gold needs some love and encouragement when wheelchair bound after surgery to fix his leg.





	Healing

It had been a hard road for Robert Gold ever since his leg had been shattered in an accident. He’d swerved to protect his passengers, taking the worst of the accident himself. It had been a heroic thing to do. His first wife hadn’t seen it that way. She hadn’t done anything to help his recovery, and her cruel nature had made his suffering worse. Her expensive living, including gambling, had cut into their already meager finances so he hadn’t been able to afford a decent doctor.  
Things were so different now. He’d become wealthy enough to afford any doctor he wanted, and he had a wife who loved him unconditionally. Even so, it had taken years to try for yet another surgery to repair his leg. He hadn’t wanted to take the chance that it would fail. As long as he hadn’t yet tried, he had hope it would work.  
After he’d finally acted on that hope, he almost wished he hadn’t at first. Being in a wheelchair was so much worse than using a cane. The doctors assured him soon he would graduate to crutches, then back to his cane, and finally be able to walk unaided. That seemed so far away though. He did his therapy without complaint, but Belle worried he was pushing himself far too hard. She reminded him he might end up only slowing his recovery that way, but he was a stubborn man.  
One day she was seeing to their daughter Abigail when she heard a commotion in the next room. She hurried, expecting to find Robert had tried to walk normally and fallen. With his unwillingness to accept his own limits and his impatience to heal she wouldn’t have been surprised. She found him in the wheelchair. He must have fallen back into it after trying to stand. Her guess had been right, but thankfully not with the result she’d feared. He looked embarrassed, confirming what she’d suspected. Instead of scolding or yelling at him the way Milah would have, she did what she could to relieve his embarrassment.  
“Hey, I need a lawyer,” she told him, going over to him.  
“I’m a lawyer,” he said, smiling at her teasing.  
“I need you,” she said, leaning in and kissing him.  
“I need you too,” he said, pulling her closer until she was almost on his lap.  
“Robert it will hurt you if-“ but he wasn’t worried.  
“Just set down.”  
She started to, then stood back up.  
“One moment,” she told him, and left the room before coming back with a lap desk. She sat it on his lap before setting down.  
“That will give a little extra support,” she said casually.  
“Fine thing,” Robert complained. “Right now I can’t even hold my own wife.”  
“Of course you can,” Belle told him, wrapping her arms around him. He wrapped his around her in return, holding her tight. “See? And it won’t be long before you can do everything you could before your accident. I know it’s hard right now, but it’s all part of healing.”  
“I wish I could be so sure,” he said with a sigh.  
“Even if this is like the last surgery,” Belle told him. “Even if you do still need a cane, it doesn’t make you any less of a man. I want you to know that.”  
He hung his head a moment. He knew Jefferson had told her how Milah had acted after his accident and during the divorce. He didn’t mind his best friend letting Belle know his history. It was just that part of him still felt the shame. Milah had destroyed his self-worth, and Cora had stomped on any broken pieces that were left.  
“I’m not Milah or Cora,” Belle reminded him, and kissed him. “I want you to be able to walk normally again because I love you, but I would still love you even if you were in the wheelchair for the rest of your life. I’d love you if you were just as poor as you were when you were married to Milah. I love you because of who you are.” She put her hand over his heart. “Your leg doesn’t change this. Nothing does.”  
He lifted her hand from his chest, and then kissed it. Then he kissed her.  
“You truly are a miracle,” he told her. “I never thought I would meet a woman like you.”  
“That’s because the women you met before were fools,” she answered, kissing him again. “And I know you aren’t fool enough to try to rush your recovery. You’re closer to walking normally every day. You know that, or if you don’t, you should. So no more trying to do more than you’re able to yet. Do you have any idea how afraid I was when you tried walking just now? I thought you’d fallen.”  
He gave her a guilty smile.  
“I’m sorry I worried you.”  
“Do it again and I’ll strap you in that chair,” she threatened.  
“I know a better way you can keep me here,” he told her.  
“What?” she asked.  
“Stay like this.”  
So she did. Sometimes just being held was the most healing thing of all.


End file.
